1. Technical Field
Devices and methods consistent with one or more exemplary embodiments of the present disclosure relate generally to a motion path search device which searches for a motion path of a movable part of a robot based on direct teaching, and a method of searching for a motion path.
2. Background Art
A technique has been presented in which a three-dimensional space accessible to a movable part of a robot (hereinafter simply referred to as “accessible space” as appropriate) is automatically identified when an operator teaches the robot a motion by directly moving the robot (herein after referred to as “direct teaching”). In addition, there have been approaches to automatically determine an optimum path for automatic operation based on the automatically identified accessible space. For example, according to non-patent literature (NPL) 1, a space accessible to a robot is automatically obtained in direct teaching and used as a search space to identify an optimum path.
FIG. 32 schematically shows conventional processing for obtaining an accessible space and conventional processing for searching for an optimum path. According to NPL 1, an operator 201 teaches a robot 202 a motion by direct teaching using a force sensor mounted on an end of the robot 202. The robot 202 identifies an accessible space 203 by combining spaces occupied by the robot 202 itself in direct teaching. Then, a motion path 204 between two points is searched for within the identified accessible space 203. In other words, the accessible space 203 is used as a search space. The robot 202 moves along the motion path 204 obtained as a result of the searching so that the robot 202 can automatically works, avoiding the obstacle.